Labour man John Prescott visits South Cheshire College

LABOUR heavyweight John Prescott visited students at South Cheshire College on Friday to boost Crewe and Nantwich candidate David Williams’ campaign and encourage young people to use their vote in the forthcoming General Election.

LABOUR heavyweight John Prescott visited students at South Cheshire College on Friday to boost Crewe and Nantwich candidate David Williams’ campaign and encourage young people to use their vote in the forthcoming General Election.

During a Q & A session in the cafeteria, Mr Prescott got a grilling from eager students wanting to know more about how a Labour Government was going to address issues such as education, student fees and national insurance.

Mr Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister under Tony Blair from 1997 until 2007, was the target of protesters in London the day before, but was welcomed by staff and students.

He told them: “What I’ve learned is that if the political parties make connections with young people you need to start talking their language, rather than putting stuff through their door.”

Mr Prescott also talked about the effect of the TV debates, and the apparent gain Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg had made.

He said: “The TV debates have been having such an effect which you can see from the results of these debates.

“People have told me that Gordon Brown doesn’t smile enough or people don’t like his smile. But you don’t care if a pilot smiles or not, just that he lands the plane safely.”

As he left to return to the campaign trail, Mr Prescott said: “I think it’s fantastic that so many students are interested in politics and the General Election.

“They are a credit to the college and to young people everywhere.”

Following a comedy exit with the Rocky theme blaring out of the ‘Prescott Express’, Mr Williams told the Chronicle: “It was a robust debate from John Prescott. He has that in him and he’ll take on anyone. What we saw in there was real politics, and that’s what we wanted to show to the young people.

“We were heavily criticised for running a negative campaign during the by-election. We have learnt our lesson, with things like John Prescott visiting today.”